Problems with the online federal health insurance marketplace have forced health insurers in Wisconsin to make thousands of time-consuming fixes in recent months, and new problems continue to emerge, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

As recently as this week, incorrect information for a rural area of the state was being displayed on the healthcare.gov website, said Dan Schwartzer, deputy state insurance commissioner.

With the March 31 deadline approaching for people to sign up for coverage on the marketplace, the state agency is encouraging consumers to double-check the status of their health insurance.

Among the problems with the marketplace that have had to be addressed:

■In one case involving a single insurer, 3,000 consumers signed up for a plan with a $2,000 deductible that was listed on the website as having no deductible, Schwartzer said. The error occurred about a month and a half ago, he said, and has since been corrected.

■In another case, about 500 people bought a health plan that was not available in their county, Schwartzer said. That glitch happened because a ZIP code straddled three counties, but the plan was available in only one of them, said Marty Anderson, director of consumer marketing for Security Health Plan in Marshfield. The health insurer contacted the people and they were allowed to switch to a different plan.

■Earlier this week, about 50 consumers bought health plans — in this case from a different insurer — that were not available in their county. "It continues to be a problem," Schwartzer said.

The issues are more than minor, Anderson said.

"There definitely are some operational issues that we have to work through," he said.

Other problems have stemmed from health insurers getting incorrect or partial information transmitted to them from the federal marketplace.

"We've had problems like everyone else has," said Bob De Vita, chief executive of Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative. "They continue to be worked on. I can't say they are fixed."

Despite the frustrations, Security Health Plan and several other insurers selling plans on the marketplace in Wisconsin have been pleased with the response.

So far, Security Health, an affiliate of Marshfield Clinic, has sold plans covering 18,000 people through the marketplace, Anderson said. In the last three days, it has been enrolling 400 to 500 people a day, compared with about 200 a day in the past.

In Wisconsin, 71,443 people had picked a health plan sold on the federal marketplace through February, with 90% of them eligible for subsidized coverage, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week.

An additional 68,655 people were determined to be eligible for BadgerCare Plus, the state's largest Medicaid program, when they went to the federal marketplace.

People with incomes below the federal poverty threshold — $11,670 for an individual this year — are eligible for BadgerCare Plus. There is no deadline for applying for that program.

Unrelated to the workings of the marketplace, one in five consumers who signed up for coverage by Jan. 15 did not pay their premiums, the insurance commissioner's office said.

That is roughly in line with national reports as well as with what several Wisconsin insurance companies have experienced.

The disastrous launch of the federal website — which was largely inaccessible for its first two months last fall — proved to be a prelude to a series of other problems, and even supporters of the Affordable Care Act, which created the marketplace, have said that additional problems are likely in the coming months.

But they also have contended that the first year is no more than a start.

"This was not entirely unanticipated," Anderson said.

About Guy Boulton

About Jason Stein

Jason Stein covers the state Capitol and is the author with his colleague Patrick Marley of "More than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin." His work has been recognized by journalism groups such as the American Society of News Editors, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors.